Monday, December 19, 2011

Interesting Royal Caribbean Cruise

Updated 20 Dec 2011: Added information about the toiletries within the room, and how to DIY the cruise.
Updated 28 May 2012: Added the zoomed in picture of the power plug


I've managed to find time to go off for a short holiday to Malaysia on the Royal Caribbean cruise, Legend of the Seas. I was curious on the differences between the cruise on the Royal Caribbean and Star Cruise. After 3 nights on the ship, I can see where the differences lie, in terms of the experience on board and the friendliness of the staff. Even the rooms are slightly bigger. :)

One thing to note is that if you wish to DIY your cruise on the Royal Caribbean, it is slightly different from Star Cruise. Other than the listed price, there is something called gratuity, otherwise known in Asia as tipping. The 15% tip enforced by Royal Caribbean, can be prepaid when you register for the cruise in their website here. At the end of the cruise, you will have envelopes left on your desk together with gratuity vouchers. Just tear the vouchers, seal it in the respective envelopes and deposit it in a box near the Purser's Desk in Deck no 5 at the end of the cruise.

You can do an online check-in at least 3 days before the departure date. Once you have done that, just print the SetSail pass for everyone and show the passes and the passport when you check-in at Habourfront Terminal. It will only take a few minutes. You will also need to fill in a health declaration form for everyone which you can get at a counter near the queue-up area.

A couple of things to take note on board the ship. Below should be a typical setup of a room in the ship.


The soda cans you see and the evian water bottles on the table are chargeable. Only the small corner on the right side of the table is FOC. Do take note of the power connectors. It's unique and may not be compatible with your power adapters. Below a zoom in picture of the power connector.



In case you're wondering, towels, soap, and I believe a shampoo dispenser (which I did not try) are provided in the bathroom. You'll need to bring your own toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. Personally, I brought my toiletries set along.

Another thing to take note on board the Royal Caribbean is that all prices you see on the ship is in USD, and not everything is expensive. Personally, I think the coffee and Ben and Jerry ice cream are cheap, even with the 15% gratuity. :)

There are a couple more terminologies you'll need to get used to on board the ship, but I will post more on it once I sorted out the photos. Stay tuned...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back. Nice to know something about the Royal Caribbean.

What power connectors are those in your photo? Can't see them clearly. Are they USA sockets? How do you charge your gadgets?

Do they have Internet access on board?

Star Cruises started deteriorating when they steered towards the gambling crowd...

chantc said...

Seriously speaking, I am also not sure what power connectors are those. The adapter I was using pops out when I tried to plug it in using the round plugs (UK?). It only got power at a very weird angle. Didn't try to charge anything with it, just in case.

More information here: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqSubjectName=Life+Onboard&faqId=320&faqSubjectId=334&faqType=faq

No free internet access on board. My understanding is that the wifi costs about USD0.6x per minute. Very expensive.

Both my wife and I can survive without gadgets for a time so we were gadget free for the duration of the trip. The only device I kept using was my DSLR, which is still having full power after the trip. :)

cheap cruises said...

Hope you can enlarge the pics on the power connectors so that other holiday makers will be well prepared when they board the Royal Caribbean cruise. Thanks for this informative feature.

chantc said...

I have added in the zoom in picture of the power switches for everyone's reference. It's a little unique.

Amanda said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cruise Worldwide Travel said...

Very informative! Readers now get ideas what toiletries they can find on board and how they can DIY their cruise. Inform us soon with your helpful cruise terminologies.

All Inclusive Cruise Deals said...

Extremely informative. I wanted to thank you for this excellent post.

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